An Ex-President, Brush in Hand, Captures His Fellow Leaders

A dour Vladimir Putin glares ever so frostily, full of menace, free of mirth, ready to annex any passer-by unwise enough to get too close.

Tony Blair stares ahead, sober and resolute. Hamid Karzai, in traditional green cap and cape, glances off to the side, almost as if checking over his shoulder for the Taliban — or perhaps for the United States. The Dalai Lama looks serene, Stephen Harper jovial, Jiang Zemin grim.

The world’s most distinctive gallery of international leaders opens in Dallas on Saturday, seen through the eyes of the former president of the United States and noted amateur painter, George W. Bush. Graduating from dogs and cats and landscapes, Bush has produced a collection of more than two dozen portraits of foreign figures he encountered while in office and put them on display at his presidential library.